Saturday, August 22, 2009

Park City Marathon... Post Race Thoughts

Complete: UTAH!

Getting there and... staying there??
The ride into Park City was smooth. The airport is in Salt Lake City and the airport was very easy to transition through. Turns out Park City is VERY pretty. There are a ton of mountains with ski slopes down them. We stayed at the host hotel: Newpark Hotel. The rooms were UNreal. We have a full living room and kitchen, and a patio with our own hot tub on them. MB has informed me that prices were very reasonable. I imagine they would go up a little more around ski season, but it's a great place to visit! MB wants to stay here.

Pre-Race... i.e. Freezing and can't breathe
When we got up this morning, the weather was a littttttle cold! But have no fear, by the end of the race it was in the high 90's and eventually got up to 102... a record for the year!!!! PERRRFECT timing mother nature. I know you're mad about my NOT planting a tree after I tried to bribe you in my race RUNdown for the Leading Ladies marathon. Ahhh... oh well.

We stayed at the resort that put on the race so the start was all of 5 ft away from our building. Right downstairs, Maxwell's East Coast Eatery had opened early to support the racers and had a full buffet breakfast as well as a cold breakfast with quick bagels, fruit and cereal. PERFECT! Got a bagel then headed the 10 ft over to the race.

Racing... i.e. Attempting to "run" and really can't breathe
The race went off with a simple "go" beep. Within the first quarter mile I realized that air... or I should say lack of O2, was not going down so easy. I was running around a 9 min mile and felt like I was starting my race off my typical way at 7:45. Breathing immediately got heavy from the altitude and my legs already felt a little lead-like. I expected this, so I wasn't too put off. I only had about 18 hours from landing in Utah (at 7,000 ft)-- not nearly enough time to get acclimated. So I slid off to the side and waiting for MB to catch up, then I ran relaxed with her for the first 12 miles or so.

The course was a lot of VERY open "rail track"-- dirt road. Very little shade and lots of hills, both rolling, and steep. The sun got very hot within the first half hour, making this high-altitude challenging course into a scorcher!

Mid Race... people STOP breathing!!! UH-OHHHH
Around the start of "THE hill" for Utah (around mile 15) I came around a corner to see a bunch of runners gathered toward the side of the road making a lot of commotion. At first I thought they were goofing around in the short patch of shade we saw, but then I realized a few of them were leaning toward the ground... over somebody. A man had passed out and apparently stopped breathing and had no pulse. They were giving him CPR while also trying to direct the ambulance to our location. After that I slowed down even more, but I was concerned they would cut off the race once they found out about the gentleman. Fortunately, they did NOT cut off the race. I haven't heard about the man, but if I do I'll post it! Hopefully he's alright!

Race Endings... FINALLY I can breathe... and get some corona!
The race ended and I rested passed out in the grass waiting for MB to finish. They had great fresh peaches, drinks, etc in the runners post-race corral. After the race we went BACK to Maxwell's since... well it was right there! They also had very comfy Adirondack chairs that I could tan in!! Perrrfect. Unbelievable food and a great staff... if you do this race, you'll have to stop by. They also had cornhole! I beat MB... of course. :)

Race ratings to be posted soon!

10 comments:

  1. hey.... you are in my neck of the woods.. or at least where I grew up. I grew up about 45 min south. Now we are in Ky and lovin it. My sis ran this one several yrs ago. I have not run either of the Park City races. I sure miss those Mountains.

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  2. I need to write my post race thoughts! I love Park City Ut and I am moving there! and eating at Maxwells every night with homemade pasta

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  3. Wow - I am amazed. I used to live in Denver so I do know how important for me and a lot of runner that needs to be acclimated to higher altitude. I cannot believe you ran within several hours after landing in SLC. Wow!

    Congrats on getting the job done.

    BTW, Candace of Youth Pastor's Family in Arizona is reading the book. She is waiting for your address so she can ship the book (50/50 by Dean Karnazes) to you as soon as she is finished. No rush.

    Congrats once again!

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  4. Great job running there without getting acclimatized.

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  5. Remind me to find an easier UT marathon!

    I'm sitting in a diner in Clinton, NJ for my pre-race carbs (pancakes). Less than 12 hours before the start of the Sel-Transcendence Marathon ... should be a cakewalk compared to Park City, UT!

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  6. No MR Wii FAt Marathon YOU NEED to do that marathon it was GREAT! you would love it...the rooms there were the best room I have ever stayed in! very soft surfaces to run on good for your legs and the massages were only 35 for an hour
    mom

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  7. Great job! Yikes.. hope that guy is ok! so sad to see/hear about stuff like that during a marathon, while people are trying to do something healthy...

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  8. The man down around mile 15 was likely my brother. Aug. 22 was his 57 birthday and yes, he experienced full cardiac arrest. Thankfully other runners helped him including one who performed CPR for over 20 minutes until EMS arrived. He is alive thanks to these fellow runners. He is a daily runner, fit, thin, low blood pressure and cholesterol but still this happened. Thankfully it happened during the race and not during one of his training runs at home in the Nevada desert! He was released 3 days after the heart attack and is back to work!

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  9. Thanks for the update on your brother. I'm glad everything worked out so well for him.

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  10. I was also at the scene of your broters heart attack. I helped to flag the paramedics. It was touch and go and he was very fortunate CPR was administered so quicky (good samaritan runners). When the paramedics shocked his heart they brought him back to life. I am glad to hear he is ok because I was not sure if he made it or not. Great news.

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